Monthly Archives: December 2017

But I did read some great novels this year. Here are the top ten novels I read in 2017.

10) River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey. A thrilling adventure set in an alternate America where hippos have replaced cows as the primary source of meat and horses as a means of transportation. I really enjoyed this book. My lone complaints are that the world building needs fine tuning and the plot twists are rather obvious.

9) Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey. A wonderful, original space opera set in a solar system riven by planet based conflict. I bailed on this book when I first read it a few years ago. But on a reread this year, I really enjoyed it even with its faults (Miller).

8) Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson. Sword and rap adventure dealing with a caravan fighting against the monster stalking them. I love Wilson’s writing. The language is spectacular.

7) Charming Billy by Alice McDermott. This is a surprisingly engaging exploration of one man’s life. I am, honestly, surprised I love this novel.

6) The Harder They Come by T.C. Boyle. This is a powerful novel of how two people relate to a troubled young man. I am, again, surprised how much I enjoyed this novel.

5) Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee. This Is Space Opera! Damn I love this book. It is so good. The characters! The world building! The complexity!

4) The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Boddard. In a Paris shattered by magical war, a new fallen angel ignites a long simmering plan of vengeance. This novel is wonderful. I love it!

3) The House of Binding Thorns by Aliette de Boddard. In a Paris shattered by magical war, the Dragon Kingdom hidden in the Seine becomes the locus of House Hawthorn’s ambitions and fall. This novel is even better than the first! I love it!

2) Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames. Saga, the legendary band, reunites to rescue a daughter trapped in a city besieged by a horde of monsters. This book is awesome! I love it!

1) Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente. What happened to the documentary filmmaker Severin Unck? This question drives an exploration of an alternate solar system in which most of the planets are habitable. The writing is so good. So so good. The characters are amazing. The world building is amazing. I want to live in this universe. I love it so much.

So, that is my top ten list. Will 2018 be even better? I certainly hope so!

I end 2017 on a positive note. The last book I read was amazing. Though I started the month off in the reading doldrums. Here is what I read in December.

I began the month with the disappointing Spineless by Juli Berwald. A book on jellyfish should focus on jellyfish. And a book on jellyfish should not be a closet memoir.

I enjoyed The Planet Factory by Elizabeth Tasker. The latest planet science is fascinating. But there are some serious grammatical issues.

I needed some comics this month so I read volumes one through three of Teen Titans (the second New 52 run) and volumes one through three of New Avengers (by Al Ewing). Mediocre is a good description of all of them. As much as I like Bunker, the Teen Titans in the New 52 are shit. End of story. New Avengers is more enjoyable, though I’m not a fan of Ewing’s humor. And it needed more Wiccan and Hulkling.

After the disappointing comics binge, I bailed like a bat out of hell on The Stone in the Skull by Elizabeth Bear, Age of Assassins by RJ Baker, The Hearts Invisible Furies by John Boyne, and The Bostonions by Henry James. I may return to The Stone in the Skull and The Hearts Invisible Furies one day. But probably not the others.

I am torn on A Taste of Honey by Kai Ashante Wilson. I like Wilson’s writing and imagination. But I do not understand what he is getting at in this story. I want to write a more in depth review of this novella along with the other Tor.com novellas I read in November.

I have already reviewed The Root by Na’amen Gobert Tilahun. It is like two posts down. Check it out. I do not know if I want to continue the series. I am still bitterly disappointed.

Finally, the last book of 2017 (and one of the best). The House of Binding Thorns by Aliette de Boddard is just amazing. I loved it from beginning to end. Expect a review at some point.

I have been wanted to read The Moon’s Deep Circle by David Holly for a some time. Finally got around to it. The sex is hot if passionless. The writing is shit. The plot is beyond ridiculous. And the characterization is cardboard.

I reread Variety Photoplays and Stars in My Eyes by the poet Edward Field. I’m said to say that I have fallen out with Field’s poetry. Which is a shame, I used to really enjoy it. Hell, I wrote a thesis on it years ago.

People by Alan Bennett is a disappointment. It is a confused mess that tries and fails for meaning.

I really enjoyed The People are Going to Rise Like the Waters Upon Your Shore by Jared Yates Sexton. This book is an amazing exploration of the rage fueled 2016 Presidential Election.

At some point, I wanted to do a Good Murakami/ Bad Murakami or Murakami vs. Murakami challenge. Unfortunately, before did not check out any Haruki Murakami novels before I started on Ryu Murakami. I bailed on both In the Miso Soup and Coin Locker Babies. I did not care for either book.

Another disappointment is Carmen Maria Machado’s Her Body and Other Parties. I grant you she is a fantastic writer. But her stories did not appeal to me. However, this is definitely a case of me wanting to revisit the collection at a later date.

As much as I enjoyed the Yates book, I cannot say the same for Jeremi Suri’s The Impossible Presidency. I bailed.

I initially enjoyed Logical Family by Armistead Maupin. It is a delightful memoir. But I may have been too generous.

The Relive Box and Other Stories by T.C. Boyle is in the same boat as Her Body and Other Parties. I did not care for it initially. But I do want to revisit at a later date.

I rounded the month off with three Tor.com novellas: River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey, Black Tides of Heaven , and Red Threads of Fortune by JY Yang. I won’t say too much about these three because I want to write proper reviews. Which I have yet to get around to. I really liked River of Teeth, I thought Black Tides of Heaven could do with some editing, and I liked Red Threads of Fortune well enough.

I finished November with Release by Patrick Ness. The book would be a hundred times better without the ghost plot that had, as far as I could tell, no relation to the more realistic narrative. In the end, I thought the book okay. But I probably should avoid YA in the coming year.

That is what I read in November. Expect December’s wrap up and my favorites list in a few hours.

The Root by Na’amen Gobert Tilahun is the first novel in a probable trilogy called The Wrath and the Athenaeum. Erik Allen, a former child star, comes into his divine super powered inheritance and finds himself a soldier in a war to save Earth. Lil, an apprentice librarian, similarly finds herself thrust into the effort to save her world of Zebub. The threat to both worlds is the same. Can the heroes and their allies save both worlds? Or will the incompetence of those in power lead to doom for all?

I really want to like The Root. The novel has a lot going for it. But the novel also has serious flaws that frustrate me to no end. So, in the end, I am disappointed.

The Root is an epic fantasy with a split narrative featuring two different genres. The narrative starring Erik is urban fantasy, and the narrative starring Lil is new weird.

The biggest selling point for the novel is Tilahun’s imagination. Zebub is an amazing construction deeply indebted to the New Weird. That world is deeply strange, monstrous, and awe inspiring. The imagination extends to the less “human” of the descendants of the gods called either Angelics or Antes depending on world. Many of the descriptions of those characters are amazing.

The Root is also noted for the diversity of its characters. Erik is a gay teen among several lgbtq characters, people of color outnumber white characters, and there are about equal representation along gender lines.

Erik’s character initially sold me on the novel. He is a compelling mix of guilt and rage. I love the chapters from his perspective.

Lil is more conventionally a fantasy protagonist but no less compelling than Erik.

Now, I have to get into the negatives.

I love Erik’s character. I want more chapters from his perspective. Hell, I want all the San Francisco chapters from his perspective. Pity, he has to share with practically every other character.

And that is the biggest problem with The Root. The narrative is hopelessly muddled by too many point of view characters that do not add anything to the narrative. I almost bailed on the book sixty or so pages in because of this. And I think that was the character’s only chapter.

The Root would be a stronger novel if Erik and Lil are the only point of view characters. But the epic genre tends to require multiple points of view even if they, in the end, add nothing to the overall story.

Another major problem is Tilahun’s tendency to exposition. Telling trumps showing. The most glaring example is Erik’s awakening his power. The reader is told what happened. Never shown. Even though a lot of authorial soap boxing would be enhanced if he described the event rather than relate it in conversation.

The plots are individually quite good. But the two strands do not cross. I expect they will though in book two.

In the end, I want to love The Root. But I just can’t. The excessive points of view and propensity to exposition wreck the pleasure of the reading. Maybe if I give the book a third go in the new year I will change my opinion. I hope so.

A series of terrible mistakes lead to the Avengers falling apart. Until Thanos shows up to wreck Earth next May.

As the title says, I love the fights featured in Captain America: Civil War. All of them are very good and excellently choreographed. My favorite fights are the chase in Vienna that sees Black Panther fighting Captain America and Bucky, the massive battle at the airport that features the Avengers tearing themselves apart, and the final fight between Iron Man, Captain America, and Bucky.

I didn’t care for the rest of the film.

The performances were okay, I guess. I really liked Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther and Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. Elizabeth Olsen is also pretty good as Wanda Maximoff. I feel Chris Evans and Robert Downey, Jr. phone in their performances. Downey’s performance improves dramatically when Stark breaks down in the final act, though. The rest of the cast is hampered by the fact that there are just too many characters who demand attention.

Daniel Bruhl’s performance as Zemo is understated and subtle. Perhaps too understated. But, with so many big egos to compete with, maybe a villain that doesn’t chew the scenery is necessary.

The writing is lacking. Part of the problem is the film is too busy. There is the Sokovia Accords plot, there are the Bucky plots, there are the simmering tensions among the Avengers plots, etc. Captain America: Civil War can’t help but be a mess.

What annoys me the most, and this may just be nitpicking to the extreme, is the lack of research in the world building.

Why is the U.S. Secretary of State (General Ross) also the Warden of the Raft (or, at least, why does he have such an active role outside of leading the U.S. negotiating team on the Accords)? Wouldn’t Everett Ross, Sharon Carter, or Tony Star fill that role better?

And don’t get me started on so many heroes holding idiot balls, a game of dodgeball could be played.

As much as I want to love Captain America: Civil War, I just can’t. I love the fights. I love the spectacle. I love some of the performances. But the story isn’t there.